


the way I followed my heart and it led me to a miracle

by hamsterboo



Series: 12 Days of Christmas - Percy Jackson Edition [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Canon Compliant, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Romance, mistletoe kisses, through HoO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28123203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamsterboo/pseuds/hamsterboo
Summary: Percy has been trying to explain to his friends at Goode that Annabeth is his girlfriend, but they never believe him — instead, simply thinking that he's making her up just to look cool.Who knew all it would take was a sprig of mistletoe and Annabeth taking control (as usual) for that misunderstanding to be cleared up?
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: 12 Days of Christmas - Percy Jackson Edition [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2057406
Comments: 1
Kudos: 101





	the way I followed my heart and it led me to a miracle

“Remind me again why you’ve dragged me here, Percy?” Annabeth complained as Percy took a hold of her hand as they walked through the doors that led to the gym at Goode High School. 

It was the annual winter formal at his high school, and it took Percy two days to convince Annabeth to come with him. Her excuse each time was that she wouldn’t know anyone but him because they’d never been able to introduce each other to their school-friends. It was hard for the two of them to go from an environment where everyone knew everyone to one where they were separated for the majority of the day with completely different social circles. 

He eventually bribed her with cookies and kisses, and he prided himself in being able to get Annabeth to come.

Percy maneuvered his hand around Annabeth’s so he could lace their fingers together before responding, “Because we don’t go to school together so we can’t go to these things together, but also, we’re graduating in six months — might as well take advantage of going to these events while we can.” 

He looked over at his girlfriend and tried not to be _too_ distracted by her dress. She wore a simple off the shoulder, full net sleeve forest green dress with black heels, and her hair was half pinned up and half let out, showing off the natural curls of her hair. Deciding to match with her, Percy wore a simple white button up shirt with black slacks and a dark green tie. The two of them had ditched their jackets in Paul’s Prius — who thankfully would _not_ chaperoning the dance — so they didn’t have to carry it with them inside, and as usual, Annabeth had complained the entire way, but Percy was secretly delighted that her dress would be completely on display for the entire night. 

He found her looking back at him with a curious look in her eyes, and he tilted his head at her, silently inviting her to ask him whatever was on her mind.

“Is there another reason why you were so desperate to bring me here, though?” she asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. 

Percy sighed. “Why must you always call me out?”

She huffed a laugh and inched closer to him, letting go of his hand momentarily to wrap her arm around his before reaching for his hand again, which he readily gave . “Because I know you.”

“Fine,” he responded. “None of my friends believed that I had a girlfriend, and they dared me to bring you to the winter formal if you existed.”

Annabeth let out a short laugh. “I do exist,” she confirmed.

“That you do,” Percy grinned. 

“So where are these friends?” she asked, looking around the gym. 

Percy took the chance to also look around. Despite it being in a gym where sweaty kids ran around all day, he was surprised at how well it was cleaned up. The lights were mostly dimmed with most of the light coming from the blue spotlights that were shining towards the ceiling and from the fairy lights that were strung up along the four walls of the gym about three-quarters the way up to the ceiling with different colored paper and plastic snowflakes hanging off the cord at regular intervals. There was a small DJ setup towards the front of the gym, underneath the scoreboard, playing songs that Percy vaguely recognized after hearing them on the radio, and at the far edge of the gym, Percy spied the table where refreshments were set out, and he dragged Annabeth towards it.

“We won’t be meeting up with them here for very long — there’s an after party at one of my friends’ house that we’re going to next,” Percy announced as he grabbed a brownie. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him as she bit into her own. Knowing that she was asking for an explanation without verbally asking for one, he continued speaking. “I don’t actually care all that much about the _school’s_ winter formal. Now, one that’s being held by a friend? I care about that more.”

“Perseus Jackson,” Annabeth gasped, feigning shock as she placed a hand over her chest. “How dare you lie to your _mother_.”

Percy barked out a laugh as he rolled his eyes. “Please, we’ve both done worse things.”

“Fair point. When are we leaving?”

“You don’t even want to spend some time here?”

“In a dingy gym with a bunch of sweaty kids I don’t know? No.”

“The only difference will be that we’re going from a gym to a house,” Percy pointed out.

Annabeth leveled him with a look. “I will bet everything that there’s going to be alcohol at the party.” 

She got him there. “Okay, considering we got here late and the fact that I don’t see any of them here, I’d say we can leave now if you want?”

Annabeth nodded. “Let’s go then,” she replied, picking up a napkin and storing away three extra brownies. Percy just watched her move, and when she noticed him, she spoke up. “What? I’m hungry.”

“Okay, come on,” he laughed, moving to steal one of the brownies for himself. Annabeth swatted his hand away, but he cackled when he managed to grab one anyways.

The two of them headed out of the gym, expertly avoiding the hoards of people that had clumped together in various areas, and soon enough, they were pulling up in front of a well lit up house. The outside of the house was decorated with Christmas lights, and there were a few light-up reindeer out in the lawn along with a small Santa figurine. Through the open window, Percy could see a Christmas tree set up and people wandering about in the house.

The two made their way into the unlocked house, immediately hit with the heat after coming in from the biting cold weather outside. Percy didn’t want to lose track of Annabeth among the horde of people so he set a hand on her lower back and guided her towards the kitchen, knowing that would be where he’d find his friends.

Sure enough, his three friends were crowding around a pie of pizza that was set on the kitchen counter, and he lingered near the doorway with Annabeth, waiting for people to empty out of the kitchen.

Derek, the owner of the house, looked up and saw them first, a grin spreading on his face. “Hey, Perce!” he called out. Max and Jasmine looked up as well and smiled, and Percy grinned in response. When the last of the random people cleared out of the kitchen, Percy added a slight bit of pressure to Annabeth’s back to let her know that they could move in, but Jasmine suddenly moved, her curly black hair bouncing against her back as she straightened up.

“Wait!” she shrieked. Percy cringed at the high volume. Max jumped and cursed in Spanish, staring at his friend incredulously while Derek just flinched away from her. He felt, rather than saw, Annabeth tense up, but he immediately moved his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. Jasmine had the tendency to suddenly move or speak, so at first, Percy would immediately get on edge, wondering what was attacking him this time, but he had to train himself to not jump to a flight or fight response every time Jasmine moved. 

“What?” Percy asked.

“You’re standing underneath mistletoe. Time to kiss,” his friend grinned, a feline smirk gracing her face. Percy and Annabeth looked at each other for a second before looking up, and sure enough, hanging from the arch of the doorway was the green plant with white and red bulbs. 

“Jas, you can’t make Percy kiss his friend. Especially not since he has a ‘girlfriend,’” Max chided, using air quotes at the end of his sentence. Percy rolled his eyes, and he felt Annabeth poke his side.

“Friend?” she asked with a slight upward quirk to her lips. Percy could tell she wasn’t annoyed, just amused at the situation. He just shook his head and guided her towards the rest of his friends. 

“I told you they didn’t believe me.”

“We didn’t have a reason to, Perce,” Derek laughed. “No offense. It just sounded like his girlfriend was made up.”

“If I kiss him, will that convince you?” Annabeth asked, tilting her head to look at his friends curiously. The three of them shared a look before quietly reaching a unanimous decision.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Derek responded, “but it can’t just be a short peck or anything. That’d make Jasmine my girlfriend.”

“For the last time, I am a _lesbian_. That was an accident!”

Annabeth shrugged and turned to look at Percy, ignoring his bickering friends. “Annabeth—” Percy started, but he was cut off by Annabeth pulling at his collar and dragging his face down so her lips could meet his. 

He’d kissed his girlfriend so many times that it had become a second instinct to step into her personal space to wrap his arms around her waist as his eyes slipped closed. He relished her warmth despite the blasting heating in the house. 

Kissing Annabeth felt like coming home and sitting in front of a warm fireplace after spending the day starved in the cold. Every time he touched Annabeth, he was reminded that they had made it out alive after everything. They would be going to New Rome the following year, and everything that Percy had imagined was in reach. Kissing Annabeth reminded him that he had finally found someone that would be there with him and would completely understand him. 

It wasn’t until Max cleared his throat loudly that he broke apart from Annabeth, but he didn’t step away too far. He kept her in his arms, looking down at her with adoration, and Annabeth brightly smiled at him.

“Pay up, assholes,” Jasmine cheered, forcing Percy to step away from Annabeth. Not wanting to completely lose physical contact with her, he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Your friends are great, Percy,” Annabeth spoke up sarcastically, but she had a smile on her face. “Betting on your relationships.”

“Yep. Totally hit the jackpot with these losers,” Percy agreed, albeit affectionately. They made his life at Goode much easier, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be making it through as easily without their presence. 

“I’m Annabeth.”

“We know. He’s mentioned you...a lot.”

“Wow, I’m very popular, huh?” Annabeth teased, poking Percy’s cheek. He swatted her arm away with his free hand. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, trying to stop the flush from creeping up his neck. 

“I’m Max. This is Derek, and this is Jasmine,” Max introduced before turning to look back at Percy. “Dude. You really should’ve tried to convince us harder.”

“Would you like me to kiss her in front of you guys from now on?” Percy dryly responded. “Because I totally will.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not used to writing so much fluff, so this is definitely driving me a tiny bit insane lol. The title is from Justin Bieber's Mistletoe (yes I'm being a cliche).
> 
> Leave a kudo if you enjoyed it and hit me up on my tumblr - @foreverfallingforthestars


End file.
